Terrorist Islamic Republic of Pakistan (TSP): May 21, 2010

[SSridhar]

Shiv, that is a good catch. But, that was the time Pakistan was strenuously trying to assume the ummah leadership, with Turkey having folded up and Ataturk making sure that a new Caliphate will not rise there again and Egypt being wracked by opposition to the Monarchy. KSA was not yet firmly established. Pakistan wanted to grab the leadership role that made King Faroukh of Egypt to derisively refer to Aug 14, 1947 as the day Islam was born. So, they arrogated to themselves that delegation, like the way Jinnah came to be known as the Sole Spokesman of Muslims.

[Gagan]

Slightly OT question - Did anyone know that writer/expert Ahmed Rashid is a cousin of TSP diplomat of Ashraf Jehangir Qazi and former ISI DG Javed Ashraf Qazi?

Wow! The connections in TSP land go deep and wide.

If we trace the lineage educated pakistani terrorists or the pakistani terrorists killed in J&K we will probably find them related to some on high up in the pakistani gravy and food chain.

Just like Shahid Afridi's cousin was one of the terrorists killed in J&K, Dawood Geelani aka David Headley is related to the Pakistani PM's secretary (Personal secretaries with the same last name as the PM are often related to the PM in Pakistan - lahori logic), Faisal Shahzad is the sonny of a retired Air marshal of the pakistani fizzaiya - mind you who all his daddy-jaan is related to has not be brought to light yet.

Its a small and closed Pakistani punjabi community where the educated kids who've been infected at the school level by pakistan's school curriculum become terrorists or sympathizers.

Of course the poor and malnourished pakistani kids and youth have no outlet from the misery that life in pakistan is, except to become suicide bombers.

[Gagan]

Pakistan and its leaders had learnt very early on that opposition to the congress brought them dividends from the british. The same general behaviour continued after independence of Pakistan. Notice that they have completely stopped any mention of a freedom struggle for independence from the British, and instead replaced it with a two nation theory. There is more importance placed on a separate nation for the muslims in the subcontinent - an idea that was less than a decade old, than the centuries long freedom struggle.

The pakistani leaders lead by Mr Jinnah realized that the relationship between congress and India and Britain weren't exactly going to be cosy, and so conciously followed a path that would not agitate the british. They felt that being un-Indian and un-congress would be something that the british would like. They weren't entirely wrong all these years.

But karma is such a she dog, if you don't have the will to work hard, and the resoluteness of purpose, you are going to go on a downward spiral. And pakistan has been on an exponentially downward spiral since 1947.

[Bhima]

Pakistan to increase defence spending

[Raja Ram]

The Pervez Hoodbhoy article is interesting reading indeed. What is interesting is not the point that pakistan is not a nation that he makes, but the other one, that it is vital that Pakistan, despite being an artifical and unnatural construct should and must survive. It is a last ditch effort to find some sort of rationale for the continued survival of this cancerous entity.

Those who care to remember, your not so humble rambler, has been rambling about the specious and untenable arguments for the continued survival of Pakistan.

Relatively intelligent people of the Paki elite, like Hoodbhoy, are realising that now and trying to avert the inevitable.

After all as the Bard of Deveonshire once said:

"There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures."

-Brutus in Julius Ceasar by William Shakespeare

I wish the men in power who rule us pay heed!!!

[AdityaM]

not sure if link is mentioned earlier in brf
Landslide lake in Pakistan
the mountains are beautiful. one more reason to take back what rightfully is ours

[ajit_tr]

25 killed in Taliban, Laskar-e-Islam clashes in Pakistan

Twenty-five people have died in fierce clashes between the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam militant groups in the restive Khyber tribal region in northwest Pakistan, sources said today.

The clashes erupted last night following a botched attempt by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan fighters to kidnap Lashkar-e-Islam leader Mani Gul in Tabai Bazar area of Khyber Agency.

The Lashkar-e-Islam foiled the abduction and both sides exchanged fire.

Eight persons were killed in the initial fighting while 17 more died later, the sources said.

I think its same news in dawn....

Rival groups clash in Khyber agency; 50 killed

PESHAWAR: Fifty people were reportedly killed as a result of ongoing clashes between two tribal groups in the Khyber agency.

Ten people were killed on Saturday when clashes began and another 40 died on Sunday. — DawnNews

[anupmisra]

Of course the poor and malnourished pakistani kids and youth have no outlet from the misery that life in pakistan is, except to become suicide bombers.

Or camel jockeys in KSA.

[ajit_tr]

Smokers’ Corner: The reactionary republic

Here’s a question: How come whenever there’s a drone attack (in which most of those killed generally are extremists), or a case of perceived obscenity or blasphemy surfaces, street corners are at once filled with burqa-clad women and bearded men chanting slogans like ‘Death to infidels’? But none of these fine, sensitive Muslims can be seen protesting when there’s an attack on innocent civilians —Ahmadis or others — by the extremists?

Where do they vanish? Isn’t the gruesome and inhuman exhibition of violence and coercion so gleefully demonstrated by monsters like the Taliban and their twisted sectarian allies akin to a moral sin and misdeed far graver than what my loud burqa-clad sisters and bearded brothers are always agitating against? Of course it is.

But it seems in these protesters’ book of social, political and moral ills, the word terrorism cannot be ascribed to savages who in the name of Allah and Islam slaughter men, women and children, as if trying to construct a bloody ladder to the promised paradise from all the bodies and limbs that their attacks leave behind. Religious parties in Pakistan that claim to uphold Muslim aspirations and interests, along with the many cranks that we have to suffer on our TV screens, have hardly shied away from the irresponsible act of condoning barbarism. They do so by at once ascribing a terrorist attack on innocent civilians to the diabolic conspiracies being hatched against the holy republic of ours by ‘foreign hands’ and ‘anti-Islam forces’.

[Rahul M]

Of course the poor and malnourished pakistani kids and youth have no outlet from the misery that life in pakistan is, except to become suicide bombers.

Or camel jockeys in KSA.

not any more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_jockey

[Muppalla]

The Pervez Hoodbhoy article is interesting reading indeed. What is interesting is not the point that pakistan is not a nation that he makes, but the other one, that it is vital that Pakistan, despite being an artifical and unnatural construct should and must survive. It is a last ditch effort to find some sort of rationale for the continued survival of this cancerous entity.

Those who care to remember, your not so humble rambler, has been rambling about the specious and untenable arguments for the continued survival of Pakistan.

Relatively intelligent people of the Paki elite, like Hoodbhoy, are realising that now and trying to avert the inevitable.

After all as the Bard of Deveonshire once said:

"There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures."

-Brutus in Julius Ceasar by William Shakespeare

I wish the men in power who rule us pay heed!!!

To know about PH and his religious views and other nuggets.
http://www.drsohail.com/Articals/Pervezhoodbhoy.htm

Did he read Shiv's book? There is a very high chance that he read that book.

[Anujan]

Did any rakshak here take a look at Paki budget? How come the deficit is projected to be only 4%? Is it beshawar book keeping? - any comments from the budget experts here?

[lsunil]

That article is a rip off from shiv's book. Stuff in the book like the writings on pakistani psyche, school curriculum, firangi delights, background of BD liberations war etc etc are replaced with little masalas.

You can cross check this para with shiv's book

This includes vast amounts of farm lands and valuable urban real estate, banking, insurance, advertising companies, cement and sugar industries, airlines and ground transportation, cornflakes and commercial bottled water. Most countries have armies but, as some have dryly remarked, only in Pakistan does an army have a country.

[Prem]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/ ... 4209.shtml
Ex-major's Loyalties Embody Pakistan's Jihad Woes

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) - A former major who trained fighters for war in Afghanistan and Kashmir keeps cropping up in terrorism investigations in Pakistan. But police say the gray-haired grandfather is shielded by his links to the army and powerful intelligence agencies.Speaking to The Associated Press in his first media interview, Haq seemed to embody the contradictions of this shadowy struggle. He said he sees nothing wrong with "jihad against infidels" but strongly denies being linked to terrorism. In 2007, he was detained for five months by the country's main spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence, but says he was "treated like a VIP" and never charged.The most recent allegations against him appear in a report by investigators of last year's ambush of the Sri Lankan cricket team in the eastern city of Lahore. The document, obtained by The Associated Press, claims Haq gave logistical support to unspecified Taliban and other fighters. It says cell phones used by the attackers were traced to locations close to a large garment factory owned by Haq and his brother.One officer said ISI papers rank Haq as "white," meaning a militant or his handler who is or has served the agency's interests. "Gray" means someone under watch, and "black" is a militant, supporter or a handler gone rogue."The army and ISI people don't let others interrogate them," said Pervaiz Rathore ( kalank to the rajput Blood), the outgoing police chief of Lahore. "The army is stronger than any other establishment in the country.The intelligence agencies' power and alleged links to militants were highlighted in a U.N. commission's report into the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. It said almost all independent analysts it spoke to alleged that Pakistani security officers retain links to militant groups they once supported.
But the loyalties may be weakening, One ex-ISI member-turned-militant sympathizer, Khalid Khwaja, was killed in early May. Suspicion has fallen on a militant faction that has no loyalty to the older generation.

[archan]

I remember when the attack on SL cricket team took place, the pakis were as usual, blaming India. Now that the attacks are old news, someone finds it easy to spill the beans. It was their own army man!
Pakis sure must know very well by now how their own spit tastes like, having done it over and over again.

[anupmisra]

In pokiland, when no news good or bad in the newspapers can cheer up the pakis, a different tact such as this can break the general feeling of gloom and doom.

[KLNMurthy]

From Such Gup - TFT


The callous indifference with which Talented Bro’s government has treated the victims of the Ahmedi massacres is apparent. Not to be left behind, Bro’s younger son has also made his own disregard obvious. When a friend called to express his horror at the violence, Talented Bro’s younger son did not sympathize. Instead he said something to the effect of “yes, but they’re not Muslims”. How much further are we going to sink?

And some pakis have the gall to talk about their imaginary "extreme atrocities" happening to Indian minorities. The paki awaam is got to be the most gullible, if not hypocrite qaum on the face of this earth.

the right word, I am coming to believe, is "monsters."

[KLNMurthy]

One thing to be said for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, they have worked themselves into such a position of indispensability that occasional acts of tweaking America’s cojones does not carry even the smallest threat of the likelyhood that the US will turn off the aid spigot which has delivered over 20 Billion Dollars in grants.

This is apparently the third instance of harassment, in as many days, that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has handed out to US Embassy personnel based there:

Police seize arms & equip of US Embassy

The nation is jalebi's rag so you can expect hysteria and venom to take precedence over reportage.

[ajit_tr]

The hyphen that will not go away

Instead of whining about “discrimination,” all Pakistan needs to do is to serve notice on Washington and other members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group that unless Pakistan gets access to civilian nuclear technology at par with India, it will continue to oppose a fissile material treaty (FMT) at the Geneva talks and will not be a party to the comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT). They should be told to call us when they are ready to give civilian nuclear technology to Pakistan.

Without Pakistan’s consent, negotiations on the FMT cannot begin in the Conference on Disarmament (CD), and such a treaty, if negotiated outside the CD, would be quite hollow if Pakistan is not a party. The CTBT, in any event, cannot enter into force if Pakistan does not sign up. Whether Pakistan will be able to resist the external pressure that will be brought to bear on us depends on us–on our national character and our resolve.

Before becoming president, Obama the candidate recognised the importance of addressing Kashmir to reduce Pakistan-India tensions. He also saw the linkage between Pakistan-India competition for influence in Afghanistan and the stabilisation of that country. But India’s hysterical reaction to any such “hyphenation” quickly forced the Obama administration to backtrack and India was excluded from the remit of Holbrooke when he was appointed special envoy for the region.

Burns took considerable pains last week to reassure the Indians that the US did not seek to re-hyphenate relations with India. The only hyphen the US pursued, he said, was the one that linked the United States and India. In fact, Burns said, there were some in the US who worried that it was India which self-hyphenated by sometimes failing to realise how far its influence and its interests had taken it beyond its immediate neighbourhood and how vital its role in Asia was becoming.

The abolition of the hyphen was first announced by Bush in 2005. Today, five years later, it is clear that news of its demise was greatly exaggerated. Whether anyone likes it or not, the hyphen is a stubborn reality. It is not part of the problem, it has to be a part of the solution. That applies not just to Afghanistan, it also holds true for nuclear disarmament issues. Any policy which refuses to recognise the reality of the hyphen will rest on shaky foundations

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=243551

[ajit_tr]

School admits student rusticated for getting married

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=243474

Monday, June 07, 2010
Bureau report

PESHAWAR: While confirming that a Grade-7 student was rusticated for getting married despite being under-age, the management of the Peshawar Model School has promised to obey the court verdict if it ordered his readmission.

“The student was recently promoted to Grade-7. He is hardly 13 years of age. His early marriage will certainly affect other children, which is why he was rusticated from the school,” said Ghayur Sethi, chief executive of the Peshawar Model School system, while talking to The News. However, he said the matter was pending in court and its verdict would be followed in letter and spirit.

[KLNMurthy]

Why Pakistan is not a nation

Interesting. Hoodbhoy has succinctly summarized things that I wrote in my ebook and has gone beyond that in some ways. He may or may not have read my work, but it is gratifying to see the thought that was seeded spreading

I can't speak for what Hoodbhoy's true intentions are, but in effect he is an apologist for TSP. He misses the main point of Pakistan, which is its commitment to hatred of the infidel and violence. And ever since the late 80s when Pakistan became a closet nuke power thanks to Uncle Sam, he has never tired of haranguing Indians to appease Pakistan to "strengthen" the liberal faction of Pakistan, as if there is actually such a thing.

[kenop]

The blasphemy around us

In no other Islamic country on earth, with the exception perhaps of Saudi Arabia, is more lip-service paid to Islam. We can do nothing without invoking the name of Islam, start nothing without reciting from the Quran. Yet, to look at our collective life--a byword for corruption and all the ills that the human mind can imagine--is to get the impression that no society is more committed to the vice of doublespeak than ours.
...
Why can't we be more assured of our faith and our beliefs? Why must we think that unless we are always ready with spear and fireball our faith will be under threat? This doesn't say much for our self-confidence or the trust that we place in our beliefs.

[anupmisra]

Or camel jockeys in KSA.

not any more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_jockey

Darn it. The west is out to get the pious. Now another source of foreign exchange is dashed.

[SSridhar]

Darn it. The west is out to get the pious. Now another source of foreign exchange is dashed.

[SSridhar]

Again, what Punjabi Taliban ?
The author works for Geo TV. He rubbishes the idea of 'Punjabi Taliban' and calls it a figment of Indian imagination that has been picked up the Americans. He may not know (or he is lying) that the term 'Punjabi Taliban' was how the Afghan Taliban reverentially referred to the HuJI group (led by Qari Saifullah Akhtar who was very close to Mullah Omar)He also forgets that the term 'Punjabi Taliban' has been used by such eminent Pakistani analysts as Imtiaz Gul, Rashid Ahmed, Hasan Askari-Rizvi, Najam Sethi, Khalid Mehmood et al. May be, they are all on RAW payroll. He also forgets that while foot soldiers came from all corners of Pakistan including PoK, the headquarters of all the terror tanzeems were found in the Punjab, in Jhang, Bahawalpur, Muridke, Rawalpindi, Munara etc. Most of the foot soldiers are also Punjabis (apart from the Pakhtuns).

Analyzing Pakistan in ethnic terms is a distinctly Indian practice that flourished after 1971.

India-inspired elements in Afghanistan have been using variations of the term Punjabi Taliban much before the Americans discovered it. They talked about Punjabi volunteers fighting along with Afghan Taliban. The ethnic part was deliberate since no one talked about the scores of Pakistani volunteers from Urdu-speaking, Kashmiri, Pashtun, Sindhi, and other Pakistani backgrounds. Singling out Pakistani Punjab has been a distinctly Indian practice for two reasons: One is the belief that Pakistan’s military brass is Punjabi-speaking and thus attacking Punjab [and especially attacking the officers and their families] is the only way to scare and hurt this brass. And second is that many Kashmiri freedom activists and groups resisting Indian atrocities took refuge in the plains of Punjab, for practical reasons of proximity to the conflict zone in Kashmir.

[Brad Goodman]

Finally some music to my ears
New budget highlights Pakistan's "survival mode"

Saturday's budget underscores how hard it will be for the government to appease frustrated Pakistanis hit by food inflation, unemployment and tax hikes seen as helping fuel an insurgency and discrediting civilian authorities.

Heard from a pakistani friend few years ago that pakis eat meat every day to be precise every curry eaten in breakfast lunch & dinner has meat in eat example cabbage or capsicum or okra all have pieces of beef or chicken cooked in it. Now my question was how do you find so many animals to feed 160 million people. I am still searching answer to this question but with rising food prices I guess time to eat grass.

“The tax collection target is grossly over-ambitious,” said Ashfaque Hasan Khan, dean of Islamabad's NUST Business School.

One more taquiya in the budget

Meanwhile, the government raised defence spending by 17 per cent, a sign of the military's influence in politics.

IMF are you looking at this?

Pakistan is also aiming to generate more than 51 billion rupees, which would be 0.3 per cent of GDP, from an auction of 3G spectrum licences that analysts said was unlikely to materialise.

Classic case of equal equal now that Pranab da made so much money with 3G auction the pakis want the same treatment now unless unkil buys licenses from KL bill money there is no way any one will pay that much sum to provide service to cell phone handset thieves using those ripoff chinese phones. Always giving missed calls and expcting others to call them.

[shiv]

Heard from a pakistani friend few years ago that pakis eat meat every day to be precise every curry eaten in breakfast lunch & dinner has meat in eat example cabbage or capsicum or okra all have pieces of beef or chicken cooked in it. Now my question was how do you find so many animals to feed 160 million people. I am still searching answer to this question but with rising food prices I guess time to eat grass.

RAPE class only. The other 159 million cannot afford this.

[A_Gupta]

Heard from a pakistani friend few years ago that pakis eat meat every day to be precise every curry eaten in breakfast lunch & dinner has meat in eat example cabbage or capsicum or okra all have pieces of beef or chicken cooked in it. Now my question was how do you find so many animals to feed 160 million people. I am still searching answer to this question but with rising food prices I guess time to eat grass.

RAPE class only. The other 159 million cannot afford this.

World Research Institute
http://earthtrends.wri.org/searchable_d ... _countries

Meat consumption in kilograms per capita per year
2002 is the last year. Some numbers:
China : 52.4
Pakistan : 12.3
Japan : 43.9
Bangladesh : 3.1

Hmm, from the same site, per capita meat production in kg/year
Pakistan
1996 11.52
1997 12.30
1998 11.46
1999 11.60
2000 11.64
2001 11.72
2002 11.84
2003 12.02
2004 12.10
2005 12.18
2006 12.98

In 2006, Pakistan had 61.9 million goats, 25.4 million sheep, 25.5 million cattle, and 162 million chickens.

Goat stocks, Pakistan, milllions
Pakistan
1996 41.169
1997 42,650
1998 44,183
1999 45,775
2000 47,426
2001 49,140
2002 50,917
2003 52,763
2004 54,700
2005 56,700
2006 61,900

i.e, 1996-2006 50% increase in number of goats. Seems like Pakistan goat production is surpassing population growth.

PS:this is FAO data.

[A_Gupta]

http://www.agrihunt.com/livestock.php

More statistics. It contains the statement

Various studies indicates that per capita meat availability (kg/annum/head) has decreased from 16.26 in 1994 to 14.30 in 2003, which is far below the normal requirement of healthy individual, 28 kg/head/year (Bilal, 2004).

Not clear - production and stocks both appear to be growing faster than population, but per capita availability is down?

[Aditya_V]

Wow, 28Kg meat required for a Healthy, that would make a small percentage of SDRE's who are vegeterian completly unhealthy. AOA

[Tamang]

Suspension of Indo-Pak talks helped non-state actors: Gilani

Reiterating Pakistan's desire for the "negotiated and peaceful resolution" of all disputes with India, Gilani said: "By suspending composite dialogue following the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, non-state actors succeeded in dictating their agenda."

The premier made the remarks while addressing a gathering of top army officials, including army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, at the Command and Staff College in Quetta.

He said it was Pakistan's consistent viewpoint to "delink the peace process from terrorism".

"The Indian leaderships' willingness to resume the stalled dialogue and international support for initiation of talks represents a win of our diplomacy. Better late than never," Gilani said.

[Gagan]

Of late there have been a slew of articles in the english speaking pakistani media beamoaning the fact that they are excessively islamized, and that their ways are brutal indeed. Nice sounding articles, that give the appearance that there is some amount of introspection going on on the wrongs that they as a nation and as a society have committed.

To put things in the right perspective, The literacy in Pakistan is about about '56% as per the 2008 census' (a figure highly doubtful in itself, given that this is pakistan we are talking about, also that one can find references to the 1998 and 2008 census on wikipedia, but the census in these years was not held and stopped very early on because the issue was politicized. The figures that are quoted by the government of pakistan are likely to be fudged), 10% of the total population can understand any form of english - an amazing figure, amazing enough to be magical!

Point I want to make is that the vernacular press, which 99% abduls read still spews fire at the kafirs, munafiqs, quadianis, CIA, Mossad, RAW, MI6, zardari, christians, jews, hindus.

There is absolutely no way pakistan is going to change.

[A_Gupta]

^^^^
I assume that the major Urdu press is owned and controlled by RAPE. So, if there is a change in editorial policy of this press, then the amount of venom spit out at kafirs, etc., can be reduced. So, while the English media bemoans the excessive Islamization of Pakistan, we need to monitor the Urdu press to see if this is words-only, or is of more serious intent.

[A_Gupta]

http://www.i-m-s.dk/files/publications/ ... al.web.pdf

July 2009 report on the state of the media in Pakistan (PDF file)

There are three major players on the print media market and in the media market in general.

The Jang Group of Newspapers is Pakistan’s largest media group and publishes
the Urdu language Daily Jang, The News International, Mag Weekly,
and Awam. The group tends has at a moderate conservative perspective.

The Dawn Group of newspapers is Pakistan’s second largest media group
and produces an array of publications with that include the Star, Herald and
the newspaper Dawn, which is its flagship. Dawn is considered a liberal, secular
paper with moderate views. The Star is Pakistan’s most popular evening
newspaper, and the Herald, is a current affairs monthly.

Nawa-i-Waqt is an Urdu language daily newspaper and has one of the largest
readerships in the country. It belongs to the Nawa-Waqt group, which also
publishes the English newspaper, The Nation. Like The Nation, the Nawa-i-
Waqt is a right wing, conservative paper. According to Javid Siddiq, resident
editor, the paper stands for democracy and for an Islamic welfare state.

In total Pakistan has 49 TV channels of
which 15 are news channels, 32 primarily entertainment and two religious.
The three media conglomerates are also have their own TV channels, but
newcomers such as ARY TV and Ajj TV have challenged their dominating status.

The Haroon group however still owns the 24-hour English news channel
Dawn News that is popular among the urban elite.

Geo TV, owned by the Independent Media Corporation, is affiliated with the
Jang Group of Newspapers. Geo News is Geo TV’s flagship. The Urdu channel
is one of the most popular in Pakistan and has a large audience. Geo is however
cable based with no terrestrial access.

Further:

In addition to the radicalisation of mainstream media, the Islamists also have their own media. Pakistan has always had religious media, but in the 1980s a new type of radical Islamist media came into existence that was established in order to support the call for Jihad in Afghanistan and building support for Islamist movements. This has now become a parallel media industry.

The number of radical publications runs into hundreds. Six major jihadi outfits
print more than 50 newspapers and magazines alone. The Urdu monthly, Mujalla Al-Dawa, has a circulation of approximately 100,000. It is published
by the Jamaat ud-Dawaa, an organisation run by Lashkar-e-Taiba which has
been label as a terrorist organisation. Lashkar-e-Taiba also publishes the
weekly paper, Ghazwa, claiming a circulation of approximately 200,000.

The Islamist party Jamaat-i-Islami publishes 22 publications with a total circulation equalling that of a large mainstream Pakistani newspaper. Many of these publications can be found in newsstands across the country; the banned publications are distributed around mosques, or delivered to subscribers’ home address. Glorification of the Mujahedins and disparage of the US and its allies are the dominant features of these publications. They criticise the government of Pakistan; and encourage true believers to die for Islam. Militant activities are highlighted and glorified as are calls for the Umma to unite against the enemies of Islam.

The jihadi and other radical organisations are also using electronic media. According to Altaf Ullah Khan, Professor in Mass Communication at Peshawar University, there are hundreds of underground Jihadi radios in FATA and NWFP.

Mullahs use the radio to glorification and to propagate their cause. But another very important use of the radios is to generate fear. Mullahs began using the radio to spread hate and fear a few years ago and realise that it is an effective weapons useful to instil terror in inhabitants of FATA and parts of NWPF who are cut off from the rest of the country and hostage to the Taliban and other militant groups. In Swat the notorious Mullah FM run by Maulvi Fazl Ullah broadcasts threats of attacks. These are always followed up with action
the next day if the people named do not comply and capitulate to the verdicts
announced on the radio. People regularly listen to the radio to hear whether
they are named, or their business or profession banned. Children want to have
a radio to hear whether their schools will be allowed to function or whether
the age limit for girls to go out in public is further reduced.

[Brad Goodman]

you guys have inspired me to dig some data
GALLUP PAKISTAN POLL FINDINGS ON
MEAT CONSUMPTION

Survey is from March 2009 so pretty current data

More than 50% Pakistanis prefer meat over vegetables and pulses: GALLUP PAKISTAN

Over the years, many changes have been observed in the pattern of meat
consumption in the country. The graph shows how the levels of preference
of chicken and mutton have interchanged between the years 1986 and
2008. In recent years chicken has maintained its position as the largest source of
meat consumption in Pakistan. However, after experiencing dramatic rise
for some 20 years, chicken lost part of its edge due to apprehensions caused
by viruses such as bird flu. After reaching a very high figure of 49% in
2000, the share of chicken in meat consumption fell to 39% in 2007. Most
of the loss in level of chicken preference translated into gain in mutton
consumption (its level rising from 29% to 36%). However in the most recent
survey we see that chicken is gaining back its lost share (45%)

This survey just asks for preferences not the affordiblity piece now a new from feb 2010

Per capita meat consumption declines by 1.7pc

LAHORE: Though per capita meat, milk and egg consumption in Pakistan is still significantly higher than in India , Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, its livestock production has remained lopsided with meat consumption per person declining by 1.7 per cent. The latest report of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reveals that the per capita meat consumption in Pakistan declined from 14.5 kg per annum in 1995 to 12.2 kg in 2007. This was the period when the food inflation in Pakistan was under control.

Another point worth noting is that all these countries recorded increase in per capita meat consumption which grew by 0.7 per cent in Bangladesh, 0.8 per cent in India, 0.3 per cent in Nepal and by 3.0 per cent in Sri Lanka.

[ramana]

TFTA---> SDRE !

Can some one with graphic programs do a gif that shows a TFTA morphing into dhoti clad SDRE with a beard?

[Dipanker]

Of late there have been a slew of articles in the english speaking pakistani media beamoaning the fact that they are excessively islamized, and that their ways are brutal indeed. Nice sounding articles, that give the appearance that there is some amount of introspection going on on the wrongs that they as a nation and as a society have committed.

To put things in the right perspective, The literacy in Pakistan is about about '56% as per the 2008 census' (a figure highly doubtful in itself, given that this is pakistan we are talking about, also that one can find references to the 1998 and 2008 census on wikipedia, but the census in these years was not held and stopped very early on because the issue was politicized. The figures that are quoted by the government of pakistan are likely to be fudged), 10% of the total population can understand any form of english - an amazing figure, amazing enough to be magical!

Point I want to make is that the vernacular press, which 99% abduls read still spews fire at the kafirs, munafiqs, quadianis, CIA, Mossad, RAW, MI6, zardari, christians, jews, hindus.

There is absolutely no way pakistan is going to change.

I remember reading on this thread only that the total english newspaper circulation in PakiLand was a little over 1/2 million or so, that would translate to less than 1% Pakis reading english newspapers.

[Brad Goodman]

I agree english news is no representation of the ground situaition the same way as Jawed Naqwi & Kuldeep Nayyar writing there is no way close to the ground situation in India. Most people who write in dawn are elitist some of them are either residing abroad and commenting on ground situation by surfing news sites and past experiences (Irfan Hussain) and others are industrialist's who are living in past glory with no idea of how poor people think (Cowasjee) then there are leftist like Nadeem Paracha and intellectuals like Ayesha Siddiqa. With News you have madam jalebi who is catering to educated young jihadis & Non Resident pakis by spewing concocted conspiracy theroes. Unlike India which has a huge middle class population which reads english news papers we have pakis where its either rich or poor class with non existent middle class so none of these papers we read point us to facts.

PS: If madhuri gupta has internet access in jail she can help brfites by translating some of these papers.

[Amber G.]

Destroy Dams? How? By using bouncing bombs?

Sorry if you heard it before:

Reliable sources say that this (click for image) was inspiration for Paki-jal-badhu-sainiks.. the idea came when, every time they hit a wall (from underwater) they will scream "Oh Dam"!

Taking cover before all the "groaning" ..starts.

[Rony]

To know about PH and his religious views and other nuggets.
http://www.drsohail.com/Articals/Pervezhoodbhoy.htm

From the above link,

I did not just meet him—I got to know him rather well and you are right, he was a tragic figure. His first commitment was to the Ahmedi Movement, and his second was to Pakistan, alongside his commitment to physics. And all these commitments did not go well with each other. It was clear from the beginning that he was a man of exceptional ability. Initially, he was quite a liberal person. I am told he used to have wine and was rather fond of beautiful women. When he achieved a level of excellence, he was greatly respected throughout the Western world. Prime Ministers wanted to meet him even before he received his Nobel Prize in 1974. It was in 1974 that he was transformed from somebody who didn’t pay much attention to religion to somebody who became increasingly engaged with it, which at the end made him a fiercely orthodox defender of Ahmedi Movement. It was also in 1974 when Bhutto declared Ahmedis as non-Muslims. I got to know him ten years after that in 1984 and it was not through physics. I was visiting Triesta in 1984 when he wanted to meet me because he had read my article about Science and Islam. After that meeting we developed a relationship that lasted for ten years. We even wrote an article together that became a preface of a book. He was a tragic figure because he was so involved with Pakistan. He loved Pakistan very much but Pakistan repudiated him because he was Ahmedi. He was I would say a very complex figure. I should also tell you that complexity also comes in part from the fact that he was one of the original people in the Bomb Project. He was part of the famous meeting of 1972 in Multan in which Bhutto gathered all the scientists in the country together and he was the leading person there. These scientists were asked to look into different aspects of the nuclear explosion but then in 1974 he was cut out from that team and project. Although the project did not go very far, yet he was supportive of the idea. Honestly speaking, he was not an impartial person in the sense that he did favor people from Ahmedi families. He wanted them in the positions of power. He also felt that Pakistan had to stand up against India. He had within him a certain amount of prejudice for Hindus. But he was also broadminded in another sense. He, for example went to India several times and they honored him. And over time his feelings about India did change. He felt rejected by Pakistan. The last time I saw him, he was so unhappy he cried. There was a retirement get together in which when a student came to him and told him how proud he was of Salam. Salam, who was in a wheelchair, started weeping and wept uncontrollably after that,. It was tragic to watch him. And when he died, not one official from the Government of Pakistan came to his burial. There was only a small footnote in the newspaper. All this happened in spite of the fact that he was emotionally committed to Pakistan and he had founded the Atomic Energy Commission. Let me share with you another story about Salam that reflects how he was treated in Pakistan. Before he died, I approached Pakistan Television and met with Rana Sheikh, the director, to make a documentary about Salam’ s life. She agreed. She was quite a liberal person. So we made a team and went to Jhang, where Salam was born and collected a lot of information about his early life. We also collected clips from his TV appearances, interviews with BBC. There was also an interview that I had with him in 1988. After collecting all that when we were planning to edit, I had to leave Islamabad for a week. I gave all the footage to a producer assigned to me by PTV and requested him to wait till I came back. I could sense he was not comfortable with his assignment, so I told him explicitly not to do anything with the material we gathered. When I came back a week later, I was shocked to find that he had finished the documentary .It was horrible. It was a complete deviation from the original plan. It was obviously sabotage. I reported him to Rana Sheikh who hauled him out and blasted him. When I asked him to re-edit the documentary, he said he had erased it. I knew he had done it deliberately. That is the level of prejudice we have to deal with in our society.